N is another success!

N is a Number - panel discussion: (l to r) Tim Johnson, Chris Eilbeck, Andrew J Wilson.

Last night saw the final screening in the Maths at the Movies season for 2009.  An almost full-house were treated to a rare cinema showing of N is a Number George Csicsery’s classic documentary portrait of Hungarian mathematican Paul Erdös. This was followed by a discussion of all three films in the series and how mathematicians are percieved by the media in general.

Panellists Andrew J Wilson and Tim Johnson were united  in their opinion of  The Oxford Murders as a slight murder mystery within a caricature of the mathematical community. By contrast 21 was considered a much better piece of work, in terms of storytelling, realistic character portrayal and mathematical content.  The probabilistic approach to “gambling maths” in 21 led to comparison with the current financial crisis and a fine exposition from Tim on how the banks got it wrong – by misidentifying the process of mathematics as an absolute solution.

Many a mathmatician is disappointed in the regular depiciton of eccentricity, and sometimes madness as a prerequiste for mathematical ability.  This issue was addressed by Andrew, saying that the nature of dramatic narrative requires something out of the ordinary to create a story. However, we should not lose sight of the supporting cast of mathematicians who populate these films. From pure fiction to documentary, they constitute the background of normality against which the eccentric character’s tale is told.

The audience participation was lively, well-informed and wide ranging, exploring maths education, mainstream film and television portrayals of science and maths and finally throwing up some novel ideas for scripts.

This event was a successful end to a successful season of mathematical films and talks at the 21st Edinburgh International Science Festival.  ICMS thanks all those who made it so – Filmhouse and Festival staff, speakers, panellists and event chairs, sponsors and, most of all, the audiences.

See http://www.icms.org.uk/activities/mathsmovies for backround information.

Capacity crowds at maths lectures!

Allen Knutson demonstrates a juggling trick during his talk.

Maths is not always the best choice of topic to attract large audiences but 180 people filled the lecture theatre (twice!) for ICMS’ public lectures last night. These events were the centre piece of our contribution to the 21st Edinburgh International Science Festival and we were thrilled to be able to share our passion for maths with so many people.

Two very different speakers demonstrated their applications of maths to the “entertainment industry” much to the delight of the crowd.

Allen Knutson, The Juggling Mathematician (left), described what has become a standard way of notating juggling tricks and how it can be used to explore new possibilities in his art, interspersed with dazzling displays of dexterity (in both hand and footwork!). Among other things, he showed us the infamous “baby juggling” trick, substituting a shoe as no babies volunteered from the audience. The trick involves juggling with standard balls and one awkwardly shaped object. Using the notation it is easy to work out where to insert the object to make the routine work easily and with comic effect.

David Baraff answering audience questions after his talk.

David Baraff, Senior Animation Scientist at Pixar (below left) followed Allen with an insight into the mathematical models that underlie such captivating films as Monsters Inc and Ratatouille. David’s speciality is realistically simulating the movement of hair and cloth. He and his team do this so well that we often take for granted the attention to detail in these animations. However every fold in every costume in every frame has to be described by David’s models – no wonder he won an Academy Award for it!

David also gave a short introduction to a screening of Ratatouille earlier that day at Filmhouse Cinema and was interviewed on Forth 2 in the morning.

For the slides from the Juggling Mathematician talks, background links about Pixar animation and more information about all ICMS events at the 2009 Science Festival see the page on our website (links are in the sidebar).

The first of the series sells out!

Filmhouse Cinema's box office board showing that we'v filled the hall

The first film in the Maths at the Movies series was screened last night to a full house.  This murder mystery set in the Oxford mathematical community of 1993 kept the audience guessing to the end – and not just about why the scriptwriters saw fit to change Fermat to Bormat!

Following on from this film we are showing 21 on Thursday 9 April 5.45pm.  Another gripping tale, this time based on the true story of how some gifted mathematics students were coached not only in playing blackjack but in all the other skills needed to be big winners in Las Vegas.  Why did they do it – to get rich quick, to get into medical school or just because they could?

There are still tickets available for 21 but  don’t leave it too late in case we repeat yesterday’s sucess! Visit www.filmhousecinema.com to book tickets online.

If you want to know more about Maths in the Movies in general visit the ICMS website.

Movie maths attracts press interest

ICMS’ events for the 21st Edinburgh International Science Festival are stimulating lots of interest from the local and national press.

The Maths at the Movies season was the subject of an article in The Scotsman newspaper and who also listed it as the best forthcoming movie event.

David Baraff is visiting from Pixar Animation Studios and will be giving a live interview on Radio Forth on the morning of his talk.  He was also interviewed for the Scotsman’s Science and Environment page on Saturday 4 April.

Plus Magazine, the Cambridge online magazine about mathematics, has also written about all the ICMS events in their blog.

Full details of the events and lots of background information can be found on this newly updated page on the ICMS website.  There is also a Facebook page for the ICMS Science Festival contribution.